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Virginia’s newly-elected Attorney General, Mark R. Herring, announced that will not defend the state’s ban on marriage equality, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. “The Supreme Court is clear: The United States...

A US official downplayed Thursday the discovery by Israel of an Al-Qaeda cell it said was plotting to bomb the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, describing the group’s plans as “aspirational.” Israeli authorities said Wednesday...

Crunch talks between the opposition and President Viktor Yanukovych failed Thursday to end Ukraine’s crisis but an uneasy truce held after five days of deadly clashes between protesters and security forces. Ukraine’s three main...

USTR Tells China To Do ‘Spot Checks On Libraries’ To Make Sure They’re Not Violating Copyrights (via Techdirt) We’ve seen before that the USTR’s infatuation with copyright and patent maximalism is both unsettling...

American Sikhs and their supporters in Congress on Thursday praised the military for easing a ban on beards but called for an outright decision to allow their articles of faith. The Pentagon on Wednesday loosened its requirement for soldiers to...

London commuters suffered rush-hour chaos on Thursday after fast-setting concrete was accidently leaked into a signal control room at a major underground train station. A stretch of London Underground’s (LU) key Victoria line was closed,...

Canadian firefighters on Thursday searched the ashes of a Quebec retirement home that burned to the ground on a bleak midwinter night, leaving more than 30 residents feared dead. Officials said the remains of three victims had been recovered and...

Opponents of the upcoming World Cup in Brazil said they have scheduled protest demonstrations in 36 cities for Saturday. Under the slogan “there won’t be a Cup”, the Rio Anonymous group called for the protests on its Facebook...

Fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden said Thursday he has no plans to return to the United States, because he would have “no chance” for a fair trial. “The hundred-year old law under which I’ve been charged…...

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered a sweeping review of the US nuclear force after a series of embarrassing incidents including cheating on an exam by missile officers, officials said Thursday. The Pentagon chief also planned to summon...

French President Francois Hollande and his first lady, Valerie Trierweiler, are together studying a “clarification” of their relationship, Trierweiler’s lawyer told the newspaper Le Figaro. Trierweiler remains holed up in a...

US Vice President Joe Biden called Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday to press for a peaceful end to its deadly crisis, as Washington issued a veiled threat of sanctions. Before announcing the call, the White House had put...

U.S. Attorney subpoenas Christie campaign and GOP State Committee over bridge scandal (via NJ.com) The U.S. Attorney for New Jersey has issued a subpoena for documents to both the Christie for Governor reelection campaign and the New Jersey...

A local council in Northern Ireland on Thursday announced the cancellation of a play based on the Bible following complaints by Christian conservatives that it was blasphemous. “As the guardians of all that is right in society we have got...

Arkansas state police arrested a police officer from the Little Rock suburbs Wednesday on a charge of rape, with the court appointing a special prosecutor and special judge to examine the case. Lt. Monte Hodge, an 18-year veteran of the Benton...